ODST: Feet First
by Owens rest
Summary: Squad dead? no problem. Planet conquered by alien zealots bent on your utter destruction? Easy enough. Low on ammo and no hope of evacuation? Just another day for the UNSC's Hell Jumpers.


Authors note: This started out as a simple exercise for my English class, working on character voice and what not. Not thinking I'd ever show it to anyone nevermind publish actually putting it on the interwebs for all to see. Thus I didn't deviate to far from the concept I had in mind, that being Halo: ODST (I had been playing it nonstop, it was on my mind to say the least.) So the setting might be a little to familiar.

**Feet First**

They told you feet first meant you were the best of the best. You were the hot shit no one came anywhere near. They told you that ODST damn near skull fucked anything stupid enough to be in their way when they landed. They told you a lot of stuff, suppose survival rate never exactly crossed their mind during the recruitment process. But then that's the life of a Hell Jumper, Feet first straight into into hell. I took a long drag of my cigarette, careful to hide the burning embers from view within the night air. Not that anyone would be looking this far out anymore. Impact was nearly three hours ago, what ever fighting had happened here was long since over.

There was an almost eerie silence that had taken over the city now. One that choked the breath from your lungs and bled your ears dry with it's sovereignty. It convinced you that every loose piece of rubble within the cities the skeletal remains hid some horrid monster ready to tear you limb from limb the moment you stepped into view. I took one last puff from my cigarette before tossing it, standing fully upright as I did so. My body felt sore, my mind numb from exhaustion. I knew from the moment we landed this wasn't a mission you got to walk away from.

As I looked behind me I could see what was left of my drop pod cratered into the side of one of the many parking plaza's that littered the outskirts of the city. A few degree's off course and I ended nearly a twenty miles from the intended drop zone. Not that it much mattered, rest of the mission seemed just as fubar based on how quickly vitals had dropped on the rest of the squad. A few had held on for an hour or two, but by the time I woke up and managed to pry the door off my pod everyone was KIA.

As I slipped on my helmet all the usual readouts and warnings flashed across my visor. Most of them were warnings that I had fallen off course, and needed to regroup with my squad as soon as possible. Considering my squad was dead on arrival I figured that was one order I could ignore for now.

"Time to get moving marine." I heard the almost cheerful voice of Eliza, the ODST's navigational AI call over my helmets speakers.

"Don't know if you noticed Eliza, but mission's scrubbed. Squad's dead." I said, lowering myself to a sitting position in one of the few back alleys that hadn't yet collapsed.

"You're still alive, Corporal."

"Yeah....I'm sure someone will be along to fix that oversight soon enough honey." I said, craning my neck to look down the street. Aside from a streetlamp a few yards out that was still desperately clinging to life there wasn't much to see. Night came in hard on the outer colonies, and with the cities electrical systems nearly destroyed you could hardly see two feet in front of you. Burned out cars and torn up concrete was all that was left on the streets anyhow.

"Feet first, marine." I heard Eliza say in my ear, a navigational arrow appearing across the top of my visor, pointing dead north of where I sat. I let out one last exasperated sigh before I rose back up to my feet. What else was there to do?

Slowly, delicately and deliberately I made each step until I had made my way across the street and into the open doorway of a small apartment complex. Even in the absolute darkness that had overtaken the city I didn't want to risk traveling in the open, there was bound to be patrols still scattered about. Most of these buildings opened up into back alleys anyways, it wouldn't be too hard to follow them all the way to the center of the city. And judging by the still blinking arrow at the top of my visor that was exactly where I was heading.

As I took my first tentative steps into apartment complex I felt a sense of overwhelming dread taking over me. Lighting was completely out, and with nothing coming through the relatively sparse windows I couldn't tell if my eyes were even open.

You ever get that horrible feeling in the pit of your stomach at night? Like there is something just sitting in the room with you. You can't see it, you don't know how you know its there, but it is. It's there and if you make one tiny little sound it's going to know you are there too.

My hand slowly slid down towards the holster that hung loosely at my side, my fingers delicately closing around the grip of my sidearm. It took me a full ten seconds before I noticed I had stopped breathing, my lungs refused to bring in another breath as my eyes scanned across the pitch black room. Slowly I undid the leather strap that held the pistol in place, bringing it up to firing position before I activated my helmets built in flash light.

It was a pitiful amount of illumination at best. Like trying to light up the broad side of a barn with a laser pointer. Slowly I began to turn my head, careful to keep my gun at pace with the beam of light as it crawled over the various features of the room. The place was a mess; boxes overturned, walls riddled with burn marks and fragmentation scarring. Near the back of the room a light fixture had torn free from the ceiling and now hung loosely by various wires.

It took several minutes before I was finally satisfied that the room was empty. I could only assume the room had served as a reception area of sorts. By the looks of it small arms fire had been exchanged throughout the room, nothing much to say who had won though. Near the back of the building the support beams had apparently collapsed, blocking what ever exit to the alleyway there had been. There was no point in trying to clear it, even if I managed to lift one of the beams the door frame was probably too damaged to even open.

Instead I made my way for the stairwell that led to the upper levels of the building. Chances were high that this one was connected to the adjacent building near the rooftop, with any luck I'd be able to cross to it and get back to the alleyways. With each step I took up the stairs the signs of fighting intensified, shell casings littered the steps and bullet holes covered most of the walls. Too small a caliber for military grade weaponry, most likely civilian's trying to hold out.

Once I reached the top of the stairs I paused for a few seconds to catch my breath, careful not to allow any of my helmets lighting to pierce through the darkness into the open rooftop. I could make out the feint sound of a car alarm going off some distance away, but otherwise the city was deathly silent within the still night air. Slowly Made my way through the door and onto the rooftop above.

_Movement._

Quickly I snapped the lights off on my helmet, hoping that it wasn't too late. My eyes locked onto the figure that stood atop the adjacent roof, perhaps thirty feet away from me. I could barely make out the silhouette in the darkness, but it was there. And what ever it was...it was big. Had to be nearly eight feet tall with arms thicker then a mans torso. The blood went cold in my veins as my hand reached for my sidearm. Seconds went by, and no movement from the creature. I exhaled a breath I was only vaguely aware I had been holding. He hadn't seen me.

Slowly I undid the clasp that held my combat knife to my chest, bringing the six inch blade to bare. A gunshot would be to loud, and if the big guy had any friends they would no doubt come running.

I placed each foot delicately upon the gravel rooftop as I made my way across the roof, taking all the time in the world between my steps to insure not a single sound escaped to alert the behemoth of my presence. Twenty feet out and I could feel a slight sweat beginning to trickle down across my brow and onto my cheek. My hand tightened around the knife grip, my eyes focusing in on the beast. He had his back to me, his gaze transfixed off to the side of the building.

Another few well placed steps followed, I could feel my heart pounding ever so slightly harder then normal as adrenaline shot through my system.

Another step, I was within fifteen feet of him. A primate of some sort would be the closest way of describing him. A thick line of fur ran around the length of his neck, his skin pulled tightly across his muscular frame to show a remarkably impressive physique underneath. His neck looked to be as thick as a tree trunk, his head looking almost diminutive in comparison.

Another few short steps and I had reached the junction between the two buildings, point of no return. Slowly I made my way over the concrete barriers that separated the two buildings, careful to never take my eyes off the Goliath that stood not ten feet away. It was a painstakingly slow process; complicated all the further by the loose rubble that sat all around the edges of the building. One misplaced footing and he would hear me, and I didn't particularly like my chances in hand to hand combat.

"It's a Brute." I heard Eliza Whisper in my ear. There wasn't any real need to worry about him overhearing her voice, the noise dampeners in my helmet made sure nothing I didn't want to made it's way out. Still, I flinched a little when she spoke. An unconscious fear of any noise overtaking me as I steadied my gaze on the back of the creatures head.

Less then ten feet, I could smell the stench of rotting flesh perforating through my helmets environmental systems. I slowed my breathing as best I could, calming myself a bit as I did so. I could almost swear I could hear the beasts heart thumping steadily within his chest cavity.

Sweat freely ran down the length of my face and across my lips, I could feel my own heart pounding so hard I was afraid the damn thing would give me away. Another step, I was within range.

All at once I threw myself upon the creatures back, grasping with my free hand one of the larger tuffs of fur near his neck and pulling myself upwards. I plunged my knife as hard as I could into the Brute's neck, feeling the spray of warm blood wash over my hand as the six inches of steel tore into flesh.

The Brute let out a terrifying scream as the blade sunk deep into its neck, thrashing about to and fro in a frantic attempt to dislodge me. I held on desperately to the creatures back, jamming my knife again into his neck with as much force as I could. Too late, I felt the creatures massive hand grip the bottom of my leg.

And then I was airborne. For one brief, horrific, moment my mind could not comprehend what had just happened. I landed with a sickening thud against the buildings ledge, the back of my head colliding full force with a piece of stray concrete. Waves of pain shot through my body, my limbs unable to lift me back onto my feet.

Through fog that had overtaken my sight I could make out the outlines of the Brute's boots rushing towards me. Desperately I commanded by body to move, and sluggishly my legs began to obey; all too slowly sadly. It felt like a freight train hit my chest dead center as the Behemoths foot collided with the armor plating that protected my vital organs. Delirium washed over me, making me only vaguely of the massive hands tightening around my legs and torso.

Once again I was airborne, thrown like a ragdoll clear across the roof straight into a pile of concrete rubble. I could already hear the Brute bounding towards me, clearing the distance of the rooftop in seconds. My mind was in a haze, the harder I tried to concentrate the harder it seemed to even stay awake. Finally I became aware of the Brute, now standing right above my crippled frame.

My helmets flashlights surged to life just as the creature made a move to grab me again, rooting him to the spot as his hands shot to cover his unprotected eyes. My hand instinctively shot towards my pistol's holster, tearing the gun free and bringing it to bear directly at the primate's face. The first round flew to the right, missing him completely. The next two made their impact square in the creatures jaw just as he began to regain his composure, sending a howl of pain through the night air. The final shot connected dead center of the creatures forehead.

For a few short seconds it just stood there, dumbfounded. Then slowly it's equilibrium began to teeter until and all at once the the Brute toppled over the side of the building.

My hand still held the pistol in the air for several seconds, my mind not sure what to do. Slowly I eased my grip on the gun and let it fall to my side. My body felt like it was torn to pieces, my head like it was on fire. Warnings flashed all across my visor of various injuries. I took one long shaky breath, and closed my eyes.

"Eliza?" I finally managed to croak.

"Yes?"

"Did you turn on my flashlight?"

"Feet first, marine."

Already I could feel my body screaming for me to quit, desiring nothing more then for me to just lay there for the eternity. After a few precious seconds of rest I reluctantly began to test each limb, making sure each of them worked in the proper order and way. Surprisingly none of them gave me much trouble, though as I stood up I became all too aware that one or two of my ribs had been cracked. Still, I was alive.

Slowly I made my way to the doorway, wincing with every step as pain rushed over every inch of me. As I reached the stairs to the apartment complex I stopped, bracing myself with one hand on the door frame as my other gripped the side of my armor. A warm sensation washed over my hand, a wave of euphoria shooting through my body as I pulled it away to reveal the dark crimson liquid that soaked my fingertips.

"That doesn't seem too good....." I mumbled, stumbling into the stairway. I half walked, half fell down the stairwell until finally I reached a open doorway and fell in. The metal plating from my armor was pressing hard against the side of my body, and as I ran my fingers across it I could tell the blood flow was only increasing. My hand fumbled with the fastenings on the side of my chest, until the armor finally popped off.

The wound wasn't pretty, a shard of the chest piece had broken off and lodged itself firmly between my fourth and fifth rib. As my thumb ran the length of the wound I couldn't help but groan. It had to come out, and it wasn't going to be pretty when it did.

"Eliza, be a doll will ya?"

I instantly felt the relaxing sensation of painkillers coursing through my system. That, if nothing else, made the next part a little more bearable. Placing my thumb and index finger on opposite sides of the shrapnel I slowly began pulling the shard out. It felt like a life time, every second the pain felt a thousand times worse then the second before. Blood soaked my hand within the first few moments, and more then once I lost my grip on the metal shard, sending waves of gut wrenching pain throughout my body as my hand bumped the wound.

After what felt like hours, the shard was finally was out. I tossed it carelessly to my side, hearing the ring of the metal as it collided with the floor.

With nothing plugging the hole, blood began flowing freely onto the floor. My hand stumbled across the various equipment attached to my belt until it came to rest on a small metal canister. My grip was weak as I brought the tube towards my side, I tried not to think of the reasoning behind why. Placing the tip of the canister near the top of the wound I pressed down as hard as I could on the top, letting out a heavy sigh of relief as biofoam quickly rushed to meet the torn tissue.

Slowly I relaxed my body, careful not to break the quickly hardening foam that covered my right side. It wasn't exactly fixed, but it would hold.

"I'm so getting a metal on my gravestone for this one Eliza.....You make damn sure they give me the pretty ones too." I said, my voice cracking several times as pain shot up my spine. Slowly I rose to my feet, a dull pain resonating through my chest cavity where the wound was sealed. With no point in trying to fit my chest plate back on I made made my way back towards the doorway.

I had made it across two buildings, and in doing I'd broken more then a few bones, probably given myself a concussion, and nearly died from two inches of steel shoved into my ribcage. Not exactly the cleanest mission I had been on, but it was workable.

"Alright Eliza." I said, more then a little disturbed by how weak my voice sounded. "enough playing around, lets get this done so I get get home."

Going down the stairs felt like it took a lifetime. I avoided putting weight onto my right side as much as possible so as not to disturb the biofoam, but it did little to lessen the pain. The ground floor of the building looked to be in about the same shape as the previous building, save for a weapons cache laying near the back wall.

As if by some divine karma I found exactly what I was looking for laying propped against the side. M3A1 assault rifle, military grade weaponry. The scope was a little scratched up and the stock had a few dents in it, but it still seemed to be in decent shape. Slinging the weapon over my shoulder I made my way out the back door and into the blackened night.


End file.
